Automatic safety-guard for elevators



(N0 Model.) F. P. HINDS.

AUTOMATIC SAFETY GUARD FOR ELBV'ATORS.

N0..322,452; Patented July 21,1885.

h UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANKLIN HINDS, OF BOSTON, 'MASSACHUSETTS AUTOMATIC SAFETY-GUARD FORELEVATORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 322,452, `dated July21, i885.

' Application ined May 23, 1885. (No moda.)

To all whom it may concern,.-

Beit known that I, FRANKLIN P. HINDs, of Boston, in the county ofSuffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Automatic Safety-Guards for Elevators, which will, inconnection with the accompanying drawings, be hereinafter fullydescribed, and specifically defined in the appended claims.

My invention relates to automatic safety-4 guards for elevators; and itconsists in the construction and combination of the divers devicesembodied therein, as hereinafter more I fully and particularly set forthand claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure I is a perspective view showing anelevator-guard embodying my invention, and representing the cardescending from an upper story and approaching my improved devices,arranged to be operated thereby to raise andlower the entrance guard orbar. Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional side view of the guard shown in itsvertical and open position; also by dotted lines in its horizontal andclosed position. Fig. 3 is aview of a detached portion of the side ofthe car, as seen from the inside thereof, showing the irregular grooveor channel which runs up and down the side of the car, and serves tooperate the guardwheel as the car moves up and down the well; alsoshowing the retaining-spring, by which the guard-wheel or pulley is keptfrom turn# ing when not in contact with the sides of said groove.` Fig.4 isa vertical section taken as online x fr, Fig. 3, through theguard-operating wheel or pulley and retaining-spring.

A represents one of the side walls of the elevator-well. B is theelevator-car, which may be raised and lowered by any of the wellknownmeans usually employed for that purpose. A jointed bar or guard, C, ispivoted to a standard or bracket, D, secured at one side of the.entrance or doorway leading to the4 car, and is arranged to be raisedand lowered by turning it on its pivoted support to open and close thepassage-way to the car, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. l

The peculiar construction and arrangement of bar G, and the novel meansemployed for actuating it, constitute the chief features of -the outerend of the spindle, as shown.

my present invention. Bar C is in two parts, pivotally connected at E.The long arm of ,this jointed bar is pivoted in bracket D at F; and whenthe bar is serving as a guard, as in Fig. I, the outer end of the shortarm rests in a notch or recess, G, in the opposite side of the doorway.A plate, H, having ears to which rods II are pivotally attached, issecured to the short arm of the guard, as shown. These rods I are alsopivoted to bracket D at J. By means of rods I thus pivoted, the shortarm of the guard, when the bar is raised to its vertical position, asshown in Fig. 2, is turned to the horizontal position shown, thusshortening the bar toaccommodate it to lowstudded doorways where theheight is not in proportion to the width, as is frequently the case,particularly in freightelevators. To the wall A is rmly secured an ironplate, K, hav ing a projecting spindle, L, Fig. 4, upon which is mountedloosely the guard-wheel or pulley M, secured lineally thereon by a pinthrough The outer portion of this wheel serves as a frictionpulley,operated, as will be described, by the groove on the side of the car,while the inner portion is reduced in diameter, and serves as adrum uponwhich the guard chain or cord is wound when the pulley is thus operated.The chain N is secured at one end to the drum or pulley, and, beingpassed over or through a suitable intermediate guide, is attached at itsopposite end to the guard C, as shown in Fig. l. Upon the side of theelevator-car adjacent to pulley M an irregular vertical groove orchannel, P, is formed. This groove in the planking upon the side of the`car is formed with reference to the movement of the car and the xedposition of pulley M, so that the axis of the pulley will be central tothe path of the groove as the latter passes by the movement of the carup and down over and in contactwith the periphery of the pulley. Vhenthe car in descending upon the pulley, as represented in Fig. 1, hasreached the position where the pulley is within groove P, the side R,Fig. 3, of said groovev will be in contact with the periphery of thepulley, ,as indicated by the dotted circle representing the pulley atthat point, and as the ear continues its de- Ico scent the frictionalcontact between the side R of the groove and the periphery of pulley Mwill cause the pulley to be rotated in the direction indicated, and thechain N to be wound upon its drum, and thereby guard C will be raised toits vertical position, as shown in Fig. 2, and thus the passage-way tothe car will be unguarded and opened at the time the car reaches itsproper place at the landing to receive freight or passengers. Thefrictional contact-edges R ofthe groove may be covered with leather orother suitable material to produce a proper friction-surface thereon. Itis necessary or desirable to allow a free movement of the car to someextent (according to the construction and manner of using the elevatorto which this guard is applied) without moving the guard. Thereforegroove P is so widened at its middle portion, as shown in Fig. 8, thatits sides do not come in contact with pulley M for a limited distance,according te the requirements of the elevator to which it is applied.During this interval of rest of pulley M in groove P a spring, S, isemployed to act against the front face of the pulley, Figs-3 and 4, withsufficient force and duration of frictional contact to retain the pulleyin the position which it was left in by the side of the groove last incontact with it, and thus to restrain it from turning and yielding tothe strain of the guard, which is so arranged as to have a tendency tofall from its vertical into its horizontal position. This spring issecured at its ends to two bars eX- tending across groove P, attached tothe inner face of the planking, as shown in Fig. 3, and moves with thecar, being bent backward into the groove,and arranged so as to come incontact with the pulley at the proper time to accomplish the purposestated. As the car moves downward, and spring Sis thereby carried pastand out of contact with pulley M, side It of groove P comes into contactwith the periphery of the pulley, as indicated byY the upper dottedcircle in Fig. 8, and by such frictional contact turns the pulley in thedirection there indicated, thereby unwinding chain N, and allowing theguard to gradually fall into its horizontal guarding position. (Shown inFig. l.) The several stories being provided with like guards, the carpasses downward, leaving the doorway just passed guarded, as described,and encounters and operates in like manner the guard on the next oorbelow, and in its upward movement, by a reversal of the order of contactwith Vand direction of rotation of the guard-pulleys, it accomplishesthe successive opening and closing of the guards on lthe various iloorsin the manner described. Guard C is counterweighted in brackets D tofacilitate its movement. A weight, T, is suspended by a chain from theend of said bar, Fig. 2, the chain passing between and alternately overtwo small pulleys, .so arranged that when the bar is vertical the chaindraws over pulley U with a tendency to throw the bar forward; but as thebar falls it changes the position of the chain so that it draws overpulley V, as indicated by a dotted line, and thus, by its attachedweight T, it counteracts the falling bar, restraining its movementdownward and relieving the strain thereof on chain N, and also'serves tofacilitate the raising of the bar. The diameter of pulley M and thelength of chain or cord wound upon its drum are proportioned to thelength of one of the contact sides R of groove P, and the requisiteamount of take-up to raise bar C by winding from its horizontal to itsvertical position.

In addition to its being unusually simple, cheap, durable, and reliable,this friction safety-guard movement is much superior, in point ofsafety, to a positive movement operating by means of gearing or otherunyielding devices, as in all such guards there is liability of personsand things being accidentally caught in the movement of the guard,inwhich case my device, although being operated with sufficient power bysaid frictional contact of the car and guard-pulley to secure perfectaction of the guard, yet incase of such accidental obstruction it willyield by the slipping of the car upon the pulley, and thus avoid damageor injury to the article or person so obstructing it, or injury to orderangement of the guard itself, whereas a positive movement of theguard under like circumstances would most likely be attended withserious consequences.

I claiml. The combination of a vmovable guard, adapted to extend, whenclosed, acrossY the passage-way to an elevator-car, with a combinedfriction-wheel and drum mounted upon a fixed axis, a car provided withmeans for actuating said wheel by direct frictional contact, and a corddirectly connecting the wheel and drum with the guard, whereby themovement of the car causes the rotation of the wheel,the winding andunwinding of the cord, and the raising andY lowering of the guard,substantially as described.

2.V The combination of a movable guard, C, a friction pulley or drum, M,mounted upon a fixed spindle, a connecting cord or chain, N, suitablyguided, and a ca'r constructed with a groove, P,arranged to actuate thefriction-pulley as the car moves up and down the elevator-well, andthereby to raise and release the guard, all substantially-,as and forthe purposes specified.

3; The combination of car B,provided with a groove, P, pulley M, mountedupon aXed axis arranged to project into the path of said groove, andspring S, secured to the car and arranged to engage the front face ofsaid pulley in the manner and for the purpose specified.v

4. A guard, C, jointed, as at E and pivoted as at F, and provided withrods I, pivoted to the short arm of the guard, as at H,

IOO

IIO

and to a fixed standard, as at J, whereby the connecting-chain, whichacts alternately on,a guard, when raised to its vertical position,pulleys U and V, as and for the purposes will have its short arm turnedto a horizontal specified.

position, as and for the purpose speeied. FRANKLIN P. HINDS. 5. Incombination with the tilting guard Witnesses: l

C, operated as described, the counter-weight T. W. PORTER,

T, suspended from the end of the guard by a EUGENE HUMPHREY.

